All or part of 611 precincts will be open for voting in Franklin County but 193 others will not because there were no local issues or just not enough candidates to require a primary, according to Ben Piscitelli, the board of elections spokesman.

Piscitelli said several cities will have elections for seats on their city councils.

We’re going to have primaries in Columbus, Hilliard and Reynoldsburg for city council; and there will also be about 13 special elections for issues and five liquor options throughout the county.

Piscitelli says voters will have the usual options of in-person early voting or they may vote by absentee ballot.

We will begin mailing absentee ballots on Tuesday April 2, which is the start of absentee voting here in Franklin County and you’ll also be able to vote early here in person at the board of elections. But you have to request an absentee ballot to receive one in this election; we aren’t mass-mailing as we did in the general election.

Early voters can cast their ballots in person at the board of elections located at 280 East Broad Street. Early voting begins Tuesday April 2 and continues weekdays through Friday May 3 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voters may cast ballots on Saturday May 4 from 8 a.m. to noon.

Registration must be completed by April 8 to vote in the May 7 primary.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/03/28/city-council-primaries-special-elections-set-for-may-ballot/feed/0absentee voting,Ben Piscitelli,columbus,early voting,election,Franklin County Board of Elections,hilliard,primaries,reynoldsburgThe Franklin County Board of Elections is gearing up for the May 7 primary. However not every precinct will have an election because there's no county-wide issue on the ballot.The Franklin County Board of Elections is gearing up for the May 7 primary. However not every precinct will have an election because there's no county-wide issue on the ballot.WOSU Newsno1:42Verizon To Move 1,500 Workers From Dublin To Hilliardhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/02/28/verizon-to-move-1500-workers-from-dublin-to-hilliard/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/02/28/verizon-to-move-1500-workers-from-dublin-to-hilliard/#commentsThu, 28 Feb 2013 21:34:30 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=44765

Verizon Wireless says it will move out of the twin office buildings in Dublin when a lease expires next year.

Verizon Wireless says itâ€™s moving more than a thousand employees from Dublin to Hilliard next year. The company also expects to hire some 500 additional workers by 2016.

The 1,500 Dublin employees work in office space that Verizon leases. Next year, theyâ€™ll move four miles down the road to Hilliard into company-owned facilities. While Dublin will take a slight revenue hit, a Hilliard official says Central Ohio is still a winner because Verizon could have moved operations anywhere.

In its announcement Verizon also said it plans to add up to 500 new positions over the next three years. Laura Merritt is a Verizon spokeswoman:

â€œWhat weâ€™re excited about particularly with this move is that we will now have the ability to expand because we have the room to grow so that will enable us to add more positions because we actually have the room to do so,â€ Merritt says.

Hilliardâ€™s economic development director David Meeks says the move does not involve job poaching. Meeks says there will be no incentives from the city for the existing jobs. There will be, however, tax breaks for the projected 500 new positions.

â€œHilliard has offered a 50 percent payroll incentive on the payroll taxes on the new jobs. Weâ€™re not incentivizing the movement of the jobs but focusing on the new job creation,â€ Meeks says.

Officials say an early-morning apartment fire in suburban Columbus has claimed the life of an unidentified victim.

The fire at 3883 Linda Road in Hilliard broke out around 7 a.m. Saturday. City spokeswoman Hyda Slone says the blaze involved six units in the apartment complex.

The Franklin County coroner is working to identify a body found inside one of the units after the fire was contained. Slone said she could not release any identifying information nor say whether the person was a resident of the apartment.

The cause remains under investigation.

The American Red Cross was helping several apartment residents displaced as a result of fire damage, including a woman and her two children.

President Barack Obama covered a lot of political ground at a rally in Hilliard. And just days before the election, the president was able to energize a crowd of 2,800 people by telling them why they can trust him for four more years.

President Barack Obama covered a lot of political ground at a rally in Hilliard. And just days before the election, the president was able to energize a crowd of 2,800 people by telling them why they can trust him for four more years.

Mr. Obama took the opportunity to lambast his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on a recent political ad that claims Jeep would be expanding business to China. Political fact-checkers have deemed the ad misleading.

â€œYou donâ€™t scare hard-working Americans to scare up some votes. Thatâ€™s not what being president is about,” Mr. Obama.

Heavy in auto-manufacturing, it was expected the president would mention the auto bailout in Ohio, as well as its unpopularity by Governor Romney.

â€œIt paid off in Toledo where Chrysler is adding more than a 1,000 new jobs on a second shift,” the president said. “Not in China, right here in Ohio. Right here in the United States of America.â€

The president also took advantage of the new job figures. Mr. Obama touted the 171,000 jobs created in October which surpassed analystsâ€™ predictions. The new figure would seem to give credit to the presidentâ€™s reprised remarks that the economy is recovering, although the overall unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percent.

Mr. Obama said a way to continue to strengthen the economy is to make it easier for young people to afford college. And in an effort to energize college-age voters and their parents, Mr. Obama referenced a remark made by Romney about how college students could help pay for tuition.

â€œDonâ€™t tell me that students who canâ€™t afford college should just borrow more money from their parents,” Mr. Obama said. “That wasnâ€™t an option for me; wasnâ€™t an option for a lot of you. Thatâ€™s why I want to cut the growth of tuition in half over the next ten years.â€

Mr. Obama urged supporters to get out the vote during the next few days, and he reminded them who they should trust to lead. As the president paused to describe his opponent, some in the crowd filled in the blank.

â€œDo you want a president whoâ€™s going to actually tell you what he believes and thinks or whoâ€™s going to [LIE!], whoâ€™s going to [LIE! LIE!], change the facts.â€

After the presidentâ€™s remarks, he greeted supporters. Brenda MacBeth, who voted early, said she and her friends are convinced Mr. Obama will be re-elected.

â€œWeâ€™re all positive. Stay positive. Heâ€™ll make it.â€

Life-long Republican David Pennington, of Hilliard, also said he thinks Mr. Obama will see four more years in office.

â€œThe Republican Party has gotten off track since [Ronald] Reagan left office. And theyâ€™ve, I just think Barack Obama is the guy for the job now.â€

Jan Hauenstein, of Clintonville, said she felt the mood of the rally was positive. Hauenstein said she thinks the president’s recent leadership and quick response to Hurricane Sandy could give Mr. Obama the push he needs to get re-elected.

“I think that after the disaster of [Hurricane] Sandy, and undecided voters really hearing how they’re working together, it’s not just Democrats and Republicans. I think that’s going to have a lot of people take up and notice.”

President Obama and Mitt Romney will be back in Ohio on the Friday before the election trying to sway voters in the key battleground state.

The Obama campaign says the Democratic president on Friday will campaign at the Franklin County Fairgrounds, followed by an earlier announced rally in Springfield and an afternoon rally in Lima.

The western Ohio stops are both at high schools.

Former president Bill Clinton will work the state for Obama on Thursday, with rallies in Toledo, Akron and Chillicothe.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will be joined by an expanded list of big-name Republicans Friday at their rally in the northern Cincinnati suburb of West Chester. Attendants include former Secretary of State Condoleeza, Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, Governors Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry, and golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

An advocacy group for Muslims has asked the FBI to investigate an arson house fire in Hilliard as a possible hate crime.

A house once occupied by an Islamic scholar was previously painted with anti-Islamic slurs. Now the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations wants the FBI to look into the cause of a Monday morning fire at the house. No one was injured, but a fire official says the home sustained extensive damage.

FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas says the agency is working with Hilliard police in the investigation.

Election night results showed the measure failed by just eight votes, but elections officials announced Tuesday that certified totals including absentee and provisional ballots show the levy passed by 210 votes.

Hilliard voters rejected another levy request in May. The new 5.9-mill levy means $590 in annual property taxes for a home worth $100,000.